Theater Camp

Source: Sundance Film Festival

‘Theater Camp’

Searchlight Pictures has picked up worldwide rights from WME Independent to Sundance crowd-pleaser Theater Camp from Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and plans a theatrical release.

The mockumentary from PictureStart, Topic Studios, and Gloria Sanchez Productions is the second major acquisition announcement on Monday after Netflix picked up Fair Play in a deal in the $20m range.

The US Dramatic Competition entry earned a strong reception following the world premiere at the Eccles Theatre on Saturday and centres on the eccentric staff at an upstate New York theatre camp who must band together to keep it afloat after their founder falls into a coma.

The ensemble includes Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, and Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”). Galvin, Gordon, Lieberman and Platt co-wrote the screenplay based on their short film.

Producers are Will Ferrell, Galvin, Gordon, Lieberman, Platt, Erik Feig – who was behind last year’s Sundance hit Cha Cha Real Smooth – Samie Kim Falvey, Julia Hammer, Ryan Heller, Maria Zuckerman, and Jessica Elbaum.

Searchlight will announce further details on the Theater Camp release plan in due course. Paul Hoffman and Chan Phung brokered the deal with WME Independent on behalf of the filmmakers.

A second screening takes place on Monday night and the film become available online as of Monday.